Posted by Razib Khan on November 25, 2009; This entry is filed under Uncategorized.

After reading this article about the The Biggest Loser, I checked out the Wikipedia page for the show. There are international versions. Through that I found out that there is an Indian version of the show. I thought this was weird. I mean, it’s India, right? Well, around 2% of Indian women are obese (BMI 30 and above). That’s 20 million obese! In India obesity still seems to correlate with wealth and higher status. Nearly 10% of women in Delhi and Punjab are obese (vs. 0.5% in Bihar, the heart of the “Deep North”). Nearly 10% of Jains are obese. 6.5% of women who have completed secondary school are obese, vs. 1% of illiterates. 6% of people in urban areas vs. 1% in rural areas.

The manner in which foods are prepared are just as critical as the foods that are consumed. A lot of Indian staples are heavy in starches and oils. More importantly social and cultural patterns for Indian women limit even meager expressions of physical exertion. The surplus of unskilled labor means that for any traditional Indian woman of means, they will have servants do everything. Labor force participation rates for women in India are low, coupled with sedentary lives at home and unhealthy diets inevitably leads to the phenomenon you see in India. Obesity for the upper classes and emaciation for everyone else.

@vic: “Just to give perspective- many years ago i tried to go a modified high prot low carb diet. couldnt sustin it- not because i got tired of it but, there was no way to avoid carbs in social situations”

Absolutely the biggest impediment to the diet you described. I was able to push through because my family events (meat & potatoes) allowed me to at least eat the meat and skip the potatoes.